District plans sale of buses, other surplus

LARGO -- You can buy a school bus, a dental chair, a portable classroom or band uniforms.

If you're into the less exotic, wait to bid on a food warmer, piano or drill press. Maybe even the 1989 Jeep Cherokee pickup.

The Pinellas County school system is auctioning an estimated $300,000 worth of surplus equipment Saturday at the Walter Pownall Service Center, 11111 S Belcher Road.

Bidding starts at 8:30 a.m., and a fast-talking auctioneer will preside. Several hundred items -- including 75 buses -- can be viewed 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the center.

"Anything and everything purchased by the district has to be disposed of at some time, and this is the time," said Wayne Gross, director of warehousing services for the school system.

Some rules:

Bidders must register on site. Winning bidders pay 50 percent on auction day with the rest due Monday. Cash, cashier's check or a check with a preapproved guarantee will be accepted, but personal checks won't.

Golden Gavel Auctioneers of Tampa will run the event, expected to last all day.

Surplus auctions are held about once a year after property first is offered to school system employees and other government agencies. Several hundred people turn out, Gross said, and bidders usually expect some good deals.

The school buses, mostly 1986 and 1987 models, also are popular items. But more mundane items are expected to sell well, too.

Washers, dryers and dishwashers, for example. A jigsaw. Drafting tables. A kiln. TV sets. Refrigerators, freezers, a 1979 Ford tractor and -- for the truly hungry -- a cafeteria-grade doughnut maker.

"We have everything," Gross said.

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